VMFA(AW)-224 Bengals

Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 "Bengals" · USMC · 2013

The leaping Bengal tiger has marked this squadron since 1942, when VMF-224 flew Wildcats off Henderson Field with the Cactus Air Force and, under Medal of Honor recipient Maj. Robert Galer, downed more than sixty Japanese aircraft in under two months. Redesignated VMFA(AW)-224 in March 1993 and rehomed at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina, the Bengals traded the A-6 Intruder for the two-seat F/A-18D Hornet and the all-weather strike, close air support, and reconnaissance mission that came with it. This standard-issue squadron patch was worn by a Bengal in 2013, the year the squadron closed out a Unit Deployment Program rotation at MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, and flew Exercise Cobra Gold 13 from Wing One, Royal Thai Air Force Base at Korat, returning north to Iwakuni on 26 February. The tiger stayed on the flight suit through 32 years of Hornet flying, ending only when the squadron redesignated VMFA-224 in June 2025 to stand up on the F-35B.